Out To The Black
by Fyrie
Summary: Buffy & Angel AU crossover with Firefly: Several hundred years into the future, in a universe controlled by the Alliance government, a group of friends and allies work to fight against a very human evil which is growing ever stronger on the fringes of spa
1. Chapter 1

The emptiness of space spread out as far as the eye could see, the velvety darkness spotted with bright spots of starlight, flickering beyond the vessel currently coasting towards the stationary ship.

"Is all power down?"

"Made sure of it." In the pilot's seat, the young man turned and glanced up at the ship's captain. "You mind if I make myself scarce when we hit?"

The captain smiled, then sipped his steaming cup of tea. "You know you needn't ask," he replied. "I had best go and see to the girls. After all, you know how excitable they can get."

"Wish 'em luck from me," the pilot called over his shoulder, as the captain turned and descended the narrow staircase in the dim emergency lighting. With the engines powered down entirely, only the life-support functions continued, ensuring there was dim light and thin air enough to survive.

By rights, in a ship that was floating - all but dead in space - motionless and dark in the gloom, it should have been silent. Propriety dictated that eerie silence should pervade every corridor.

"Hey! You got the shotgun last time!"

Ducking under a doorway, Giles shook his head with an affectionate smile.

Making his way down a long, narrow corridor, his shoes rattling on the grating of the floor, he descended another low staircase into the main chamber of the ship, where three young women were sharing out an impressive weapon collection.

Each of them was wearing a skin-tight bodysuit as a shield against radiation, all of them slung with belts and straps on thighs and calves, stocked with a miscellany of more interesting looking gadgets.

"Dare I ask why you're fighting already?"

"No biggie," the smallest of the three replied. She was a deceptively dainty-looking blonde, who was presently armed with what looked like a welding gun and a long, deadly-looking knife. "Faith was just trying to take my favourite toy."

"B, you got your hands full already," the youngest retorted, slipping a large and equally unpleasant knife into her belt, then reaching up to twist her dark hair into a knot. "And I wanna use it."

"Now, children, share and share alike," Rupert Giles sighed the sigh of a person who has witnessed the same argument on an almost weekly basis for a very long time. "I think you have plenty of weapons to choose from."

"Dey like ta fight, Sir," the third murmured. She was squatting down by the wall, sharpening a blade with a small whetstone. Brown eyes flicked up to the Captain and she smiled slightly. "Dey tink it makes dem fight _dem _better."

"B makes it too easy," the girl called Faith said, swinging the shotgun up with a grin.

"Wai!" the blonde exclaimed indignantly. "Everyone says I'm nice!"

Even the darker girl squatting on the floor looked up at that. "Shi ma?"

Faith's grin was splitting her face. "Everyone bein' that drunk guy in that bar on Scepter's second moon, right?"

The blonde shrugged. "He counted!"

"Ladies, please," Giles raised a hand to silence them. "Oz says we should have company in several moments, so perhaps you would be kind enough to get ready? I'm just rather attached to my life."

Slipping her blade into a pouch on her belt, the blonde smiled sweetly. "Have we ever let you down, Captain?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Well, G," Faith noted dryly. She pulled the tight hood over her hair, sealing it in place and reaching down for her radiation mask "You ain't dead yet, so we must be doin' somethin' right."

Giles' lips pressed together. "I shan't hold my breath," he said after a moment of dignified silence. A shrill whistle from the cabin made him glance back, then nod. "It looks like we have guests. Try not to take too long."

"We'll be done before you finish your tea," the blonde's smile was colder now.

"And be careful, Buffy," Giles added, pointing a finger at her. "I would find it very tiresome if I had to find a replacement first mate as aggravating as you."

The girl straightened, her expression suddenly as serious as his. "We'll do what we do, Giles," she said firmly. Behind her, there was the heavy nudge of another ship's airlock connecting with theirs. "Kendra?" The quietest of the trio unfolded from the floor. "Faith?"

"Ready when you are, blondie."

The three young women moved towards the hatchway, opening it with a chilly hiss. Beyond, darkness gaped greedily at them, a far away sizzling and crackling filling the air. Faith dropped through first, followed by Kendra.

Buffy threw a last grin at Giles. "Fang xin," she said, then disappeared into the darkness on the other side of the doorway.

Lowering his cup of tea, Giles gazed after her. "I always do," he murmured.

Moving back up the narrow hallway, which was barely big enough to accommodate all of the crew when they gathered there, he sat down on the lowest of the gridded steps and withdrew his pistol from the holster on his right hip, laying it on his knees.

Then, eyes on the open doorway, he took another sip of his tea.

Further up the ship, in the hall lined with the knot of crew bunks, he heard the door of Oz and Willow's room close and recognised the familiar rattle of the electronic bolts clattering into place.

A faint smile crossed his lips.

They knew it was unnecessary, but it had become part of the luck ritual, which the three girls seemed to favour. Oz and Willow would be locked in their bunk, he would be perched on the steps drinking tea and the...

No, not girls. Not at the moment.

At the moment, they were performing the task they had been trained, genetically and mentally adapted and advanced for.

They were the Slayers.

A hideous howl from the darkness beyond stirred him from his reverie. He thumbed the safety on the pistol off, then closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of the glass of camomile tea he was presently enjoying.

Heavy footsteps were growing closer and he sighed.

Obviously, their enemies weren't aware of the ritual; he had to be down to the last drop of his still-warm tea before anyone stepped back on board.

He was far from surprised when a hideously mutilated man scrambled through the doorway; lids pulled back from blood-shot eyes, cheeks gashed down to the bone and a body that was little more than scarred skin and bones.

"Good afternoon," he said conversationally. The Reaver leapt. The gun recoiled in Giles' hand, the crack of fire resounding off the walls, and his assailant jerked back, landing heavily on the floor with a gurgled cry.

Rising, leisurely, he approached the fallen Reaver and gazed down at it, sipping his tea. It was writhing, twitching convulsively, and gagging, blood rippling from the unpleasant hole in its throat.

"Hun dan." The captain slowly brought the gun up, sighting down the barrel. The expression on his face could only be described as chilling. The second retort of his gun was louder than the first and the Reaver went limp.

With his foot, he gave the limp body a push back through the open doorway, then returned to his step. Sitting, he placed his gun down beside him and swirled his tea in the glass, watching the doorway again.

* * *

"Here's to us!" Faith raised a glass of thick, oil-cultured wine. "Best damn fighting force in the 'Verse!"

"That's us!" Buffy's mug rose.

Settled on a cushion in the narrow hallway, legs folded before her, Kendra looked from one to the other. "You have both been injured," she noted, her hands cupped around her own drink.

"Hardly anythin'!" Faith exclaimed. "Nothin' a medkit couldn't fix."

"Ruin the party, why don't you?" Buffy added, not even glancing at the raw gash that was now marring her forearm. "We wiped out the whole raiding party, so I say we've got a win."

"Kendra does have a point," Giles interrupted seriously. "After all, next time, it might not be so minor."

Rolling her eyes, the blonde toed her boots off, leaning back comfortably against the cushions that had been hauled out of the sleeping quarters. "We'll worry about that next time, k?" she said. "How about you just let us enjoy the badassness of us?"

"Gotta give it to them," Oz added. "They did a good job. That was a big ship."

"See!" the blonde said happily. "Even Oz is party-man today. C'mon, Giles..."

The Captain gave her a brief, reprimanding look that broke into a small smile. "I suppose I can delay the lecture for a few hours," he said. "After all, it is much more entertaining when you are all hungover."

Faith snorted in amusement. "And we figured the Reavers were the big evil in the 'verse. They never met the Captain."

At the top of the staircase, leading up to the dorm corridor, a voice cut over Giles' response. "Got room for a small one?"

"Hey!" Buffy saluted with her mug. "Look at the Willster! Out of the cortex, huh?"

The red-haired woman trotted down the steps, carefully stepping over Giles, who was seated at the bottom, and squeezed herself in between Oz and Kendra, snagging his cup and taking a sip of it.

Unlike the Slayers, who were dressed in casual combat gear, the hacker favoured a scruffy jumpsuit for comfort. Her hair was short, sticking in every direction, with the lenses of her monitor mask visible amid the shocking red.

"A hacker's day is never done," she said, shuddering after she swallowed. "There's a new wave out on the cortex now, Captain. Needed to ask you about it, since you're alliance-knowing-guy."

"What type?" he asked, lowering his drink to survey her. It wasn't often that the hacker came to him with queries, her own family positioned high in 'proper' society.

"The kind you know about," Willow replied significantly, staring at him.

He felt more than heard the responses of his three girls. A quick glance showed him Faith's expression of bitter anger, Buffy's hands tightening around her glass and Kendra's eyes dropping away to stare at a rivet by her knee.

His glass clinked quietly as he placed it on the floor. "Details?"

Reaching up, Willow flipped the lenses over her eyes, information scrolling across the tiny screens, the girl only ever using the highest quality equipment.

"A warrant had been issued on secure levels for a fugitive girl," the hacker spoke, as if reading by rote. "Tam, River. Seventeen years old. Subject to medical assessment, the subject is considered highly dangerous and mentally unstable."

"One of us?" Kendra was the one to speak out, her head down.

Giles shook his head, his brow creased. "I don't remember the name," he said. "But there were a lot of children brought in and our department was divided up into more specialised areas."

"Yeah," Faith's voice was uncharacteristically rough. "I never saw you guys when we were in there. Didn't meet you 'til we all found G."

Giles' expression revealed nothing. He turned his attention back to Willow. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this, Willow?"

The red head nodded. "Right now, they're keeping it totally internal," she said. "I figure they don't wanna get anyone from outside, especially if she's like Buffy, Faith and Kendra."

"Could be kinda hard to explain how a tiny chick with a head full of crazy can take down a whole lot of armed guards with one hand," Faith gritted out angrily, then went rigid. "Red, when'd'this chick break out?"

Willow's eyes flicked through the information she was receiving, fingertips moving briskly on the tiny control stick she held in one hand. "A day or two ago, at most," she replied. "They really don't wanna be embarrassed by this one."

"A day or two?"

There was a quiet sound as Buffy placed her mug down. "Faith."

"Don't you 'Faith' me, B," the younger girl's voice was shaking. "They're still doin' it! They were gonna kill us all cos of what they done to us and they're still doin' the same ruttin' thing!"

"Getting angry won't help."

"Chi ni de!" Faith snapped viciously. "You feel the same, B! You tell me you feel different and you're a gorram liar!"

Giles, his glasses turning over in his hands, looked at her. "Faith, we're all angry."

"To hell with you, _Captain_," Faith snarled. "You're the one that helped 'em! We wouldn't be here right now, if it wasn't for you and your guys!"

A quick look and a shake of the head from Buffy nudged Giles back where he sat, as the blonde spoke, "Faith, we don't need to fight about this."

"You gonna tell me it don't matter to you if they're pumpin' other kids full of crazy things to make their own private teen-army?" Faith retorted, her expression tight and her hands shaking.

Buffy held up a hand. "Sure it matters," she said softly. "But we can't do anything about it right now."

Faith stared at her. "Even if there are a thousand more of them, you're just gonna sit here and wait for them to mess us again?" she demanded. "B, when we tried to get ourselves out, they killed everyone in my group except me and two others! They killed hundreds of us! And now, you're gonna let..."

"I'm not going to let them do anything," Buffy's voice was cool, firm. "But getting ourselves killed..."

"Who said we'd get killed, B? Maybe if you got sloppy..."

"Nimen dou bizui!" The two Slayers jerked, startled by Kendra raising her voice, the quietest of the three staring at them both. "Faith, Buffy is right. We can't help dem as we would like to, not yet. But we can find de ones dat are left. De ones like us. If we get to dem first, den maybe we can start fightin' back."

The dark-haired Slayer snatched up Buffy's abandoned drink and downed the strong liquor in a single gulp. "It just pisses me the hell off," she choked out. "They figure the Reavers are bad, but what the hell does it make them?"

The storm weathered, Buffy poured Faith another glass, then squeezed her shoulder sympathetically. "At least we know we can kick their asses when the time comes, huh?" she murmured.

"Don't know where we could hide the newbie when we find her, though," Faith mumbled. "Not like we even have room to fit a midget in here."

"Uh, guys...?" Willow waved her empty hand abruptly, her eyes still watching screed of information. "I don't think this little sweetie was quite up for your training. She got picked out from a school when she was thirteen, because she is the uber-smart."

"And we all know we weren't picked for brains," Buffy said with a weak smile at Faith.

"Screw brains," Faith replied, her words starting to slur slightly. "Good-looks all the way for us."

"You know it, Meimei," Buffy placed a stabilising arm around the dark-haired girl, then nodded at Willow. "Anything else, Will?"

"Uh... yuh-huh. She's been there for nearly four years... huh..." Falling silent, the only sound over the steady hum of the engine was the rattling click of her control pad between her fingers. "Wow..."

Looking amused, Oz nuzzled her shoulder. "Baby, you're doing it again."

"Wha? Oh!" Blushing, the girl grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Kinda forgot..."

"That we were here, yes, we know," Giles said with a long-suffering chuckle. "You do do that rather frequently, when you grace us with your presence.."

Willow stuck her tongue out, then clicked several times.

"I know the Tams," she said, frowning. "Not the girl, but I know the family... kind of a their-mom-know-someone-who-is-a-friend-of-my-dad's-business-partner deal." Her frown deepened. "Huh. Giles, I thought you said that when they did their... stuff, they found people with no parents or any family."

"Usually, that was the case," the captain nodded.

Buffy nodded. "They got me from a care home on Triton."

"Picked me up after my folks were killed on Hermes Two, way out by Melinda and Apollo," Faith mumbled, staring into the bottom of her half-empty glass. "Thought I'd got lucky." She watched as the blonde filled her glass again. "Ha. Lucky. Right."

"This girlie..." Willow chewed on her lip, squinting slightly, then flipped her visual mask up. "She had the whole package; mom, dad, brother, little kitty cat. Looks like her brother busted her out."

"Go brother!" Faith exclaimed. "Stick it to the government!"

"Not so much with the sticking," Willow said, sipping from Oz's cup. "Kind of more the smash and grab and run away very fast and lose all your money and possessions and probably be caught and killed very quickly."

"That's what I love about you, Will," Buffy said, carefully propping Faith against the pillows, where the dark-haired Slayer started humming under her breath, eyes slightly glassy. "You're always so upbeat."

Willow shook her head. "You didn't see the shiny toys they've put out after these kids," she said. "And he was a way-classy doctor on Capital City. He's used to having money and support. Now, he's on his own with a kid who is probably way worse than you guys." She shrugged apologetically at presenting such a bleak picture. "Unless they get real lucky and hitch a ride with someone to the middle of nowhere, they'll be caught quicker than a cold."

"Den we should find dem both and help dem," Kendra said with quiet authority. The tawny-skinned girl seldom spoke, but when she did, it was certainly worth listening to. "Before someone else does."

Willow nodded. "I kinda guessed you'd wanna," she said with a knowing smile. "I put a marker on the files, so any time any word comes in, we'll be first to know."

"Good..." Giles nodded pensively. "Good."

Snuggling against Oz, letting him drink from the glass she was still holding, Willow looked around. "So, we done here? No more creepy bad guys to kill?"

"Unless you have any more information about sightings of further Reaver vessels in this area," Giles replied, smiling when Willow enthusiastically shook her head. "I think we're ready to head back to Nephthys for a brief respite. I have no doubt we have something that requires repair."

"Goodie!" Willow beamed. "I have some new components to pick up!"

"That's my baby," Oz kissed her temple. "Always thinking of the next upgrade."

"And I think we'll need to get some more of that weird wine that Xan makes," Buffy added, giving the drowsy Faith a gentle prod. "If it knocks her out so easily, we'll need to buy his whole stock."

"Shcrew you," Faith grumbled, tipping sideways into the pillows.

Kendra, though, was watching Giles. "I tink I know why de Captain wants to go to Nephthys," she noted, eyes glimmering. A warning look was sent her way. "I know he probably tinks it will be good for us, but..."

"G?" Faith's voice was muffled through the pillows. "You got a... thing... nuther reason?"

"Ulterior motive, Faith?" Oz offered.

"Yeah... s'the one. Tear rear motive?"

"Tear rear mo..." Buffy's eyes widened. "Giles, you are a bad, bad man!"

The Captain pointed at her. "I didn't make the decision to come out this close to Nephthys! That was your decision."

"But you're taking advantage! You said there was a lot of activity out here! Way more than usual, you said! We'd better deal with it, you said!"

Giles shifted uncomfortably. "It was your decision," he repeated, rising. "And if you don't mind, I think I shall go and check distance from the ports."

"Gorram..." Buffy shook her head, chuckling as he walked up the steps, deliberately ignoring her with every step.

"So, are you going to be mean or are you going to tell us what we missed?" Willow inquired, cocking her head.

Buffy grinned. "What do they grow on Nephthys that Giles is kinda addicted to?" she inquired.

Willow stared at her, as Oz muted a snicker behind his hand. "He brought us all the way out here," she said incredulously. "Way out into the middle of the black, just because he wanted to get some tea?"

The blonde Slayer laughed. "That's our Giles."


	2. Chapter 2

Outside of the vast docking bay, rain was pounding down on the ground with the force of small pebbles, muddy puddles spreading out along the pock-marked road towards the main settlement of Nephthys.

The Captain had taken all but one of the crew towards the town to arrange lodgings for a brief stay on the small moon, leaving his first mate to keep an eye on the mechanic and his diagnostic check.

"I don't know how this ship is still flying," he said critically, replacing a long cable and locking the clamp in place. "Looks like a pile of rust glued together with spit and duct tape."

"Could be your magic touch, Xan," Buffy grinned. She was sitting on an upended crate, feet swinging back and forth. The mechanic wiped his oily hands on a cloth, peering into the recesses of the engine above his head. "Every time we leave, she purrs like a kitten."

"And every time you bring her back, she wheezes like my asthmatic grandma," Xander glanced at her suspiciously. "I'm getting paid this time, right?"

"You'll have to ask the Captain about that," the petite blonde said cheerfully. "He's the one with all the credit. I'm just his dumb little second in command."

"Dumb as in smart-enough-to-know-not-to-be-around-when-I-ask, right?" Xander rolled his eye. How he had lost his other eye, none of the crew of _Sunnydale_ were entirely sure, but he always claimed it was in the line of heroic action.

Faith, on the other hand, frequently muttered that he probably rubbed his eye and forgotten he was holding a screwdriver.

"You got that right." Pushing herself off the crate, Buffy leaned under the engine and peeked up into the rear bowels of the ship, her nose wrinkling. "Is it meant to smell like burning?" The look Xander gave her was response enough. "Okay... so why does it smell like that?"

Retrieving a bolt-winder from his belt and wrestling with a series of nuts for several minutes, Xander managed to free a covering panel then withdrew a mangled piece of half-melted metal. "Could be that this was jammed in your port vent release."

Delicately taking the four-foot long twisted lump of metal, Buffy turned it over with a frown. "How would that get in there?" she demanded of no one in particular.

"Well, you can't blame your pilot," Xander replied, head and shoulders thrust through the panel, fiddling with some of the couplings within the heart of the engine. "So, maybe you ran through some kind of debris field or by a wrecked ship."

"Yeah and that would force a Reaver's pike into our engine hard enough to stick..." Buffy's voice was a faint murmur, her expression hardening. She looked up from the twisted pike. "Xander, I need you to do a full check of internal and external covers of the engine's casing. There's no way one of these accidentally got caught in there. If something has been tampering with our ship, we need to know."

"And if a Reaver toy got inside..."

"That means Reaver toys touched the outside and we need to know now." Buffy's voice was terse, hard with authority. "We got rid of them, but if they left _anything_ on board that'll let their gou cao de buddies know where we are, you gotta find and disable it or we are humped."

"Gotcha," Xander caught another tool from his belt and scrambled up through the trapdoor and into the engine compartment.

8888

With his hands curled under a delicate teacup, Giles was inhaling the pungent aroma of the freshest of the teas of Nephthys, oblivious to the presence of all save the tea-maid and her glorious pot of sweet, sweet ambrosia.

Although he maintained his own selection of teas on the ship, very few tasted as sweet and pure as freshly-brewed tea made from water that hadn't been sitting in a warm filtration tank for three weeks.

"Perfect," he murmured, taking another sip.

Admittedly, he was a fairly low-maintenance person. His ship was well-made and well-maintained, small and light, running on the minimum fuel. His crew all had their... funds, which kept them well-stocked with weapons.

Yes, tea really was his only luxury and his last grasp of civilisation in a world that was otherwise thoroughly insane.

Placing the cup down, he bowed politely to the tea maid, who smiled and moved off, leaving him seated at the low table, enjoying the momentary peace, which was - all too soon - broken by a familiar cry.

"G!"

"Oh good Lord." Half-rising, his impatience vanished like mist in the sun at the sight of Faith's face, her hair slicked to her cheeks and her clothing soaked. Outside, the rain was thundering down even more heavily. "What is it?"

The young girl jerked her head in the direction of the repair store. "We gotta go."

Nodding, Giles followed her rapidly out of the tearoom, not even pausing to fasten his shoes. He was unsurprised to see Kendra already bringing the mule to life, her expression as grim as the younger Slayer's. "Do you have any details?"

"One of them gou cao de bastards tagged us," Faith replied, scrambling up onto the quad. "B says Xan found a transmission rod jammed inside one of the thrusters. Don't know if it's still transmittin' to anyone, but if we wanna leave this place intact, we gotta get out."

"Laotian fu..."

"Yeah," Faith muttered, strapping herself on as Kendra hit the accelerator, the mule roaring to life, tossing up a spray of muddy water. "They just get more interestin' every time, don't they?"

"Did they disable it?"

The girl gave him a look. "B said she stomped on it," she replied. "That count for somethin'?"

"That's the best we could hope for, I suppose," Giles murmured, clinging onto the grips on either side of his seat as Kendra took a sharp turn through the town gates, the car skidding on the bend.

"Hold on ta sometin," the driver grit out between her teeth.

On the back seat, Faith and Giles exchanged glances, shifting towards the edges of the seats. White-knuckled hands gripped the security bars and the Slayer floored the accelerator.

The half-hour ride from the main settlement took less than fifteen minutes, Captain and the two girls scrambling down and racing for the garage, which the nose of the ship was emerging from.

"Anythin' new?" Faith demanded.

"Nothing more than we told you before," Xander replied. One of his hands was wrapped in a strip of linen, though which, blood could be seen. "Dug it out of there and checked the rest of the old bucket, but we couldn't find anything."

"Oz and Willow are on their way back in as well," Buffy added. Her overalls were peeled down to her waist and - like Xander - her knuckles scraped and bruised. "What do we do, Giles?"

The captain looked around at the expectant, worried and - above all - young faces around him. "Did you find out if the beacon was still transmitting before you let Buffy..." The look on Xander's face spoke measures. "Before Buffy stamped on it?"

Xander nodded once. "It was pretty beat-up, but there was still a faint signal. Don't know what kind of range it would have, though, so unless there are any Reavers in the area, I doubt it'd reach them."

"But if dere are..."

"Then we're humped five ways from Friday," the mechanic replied simply. "They'll be on their way, even if it's just to check why a beacon stopped transmitting suddenly. If a beacon breaks down, it's probably usually them doing the breaking."

Rubbing his jaw, Giles nodded seriously. At least the delay provided by Willow and Oz's absence gave him a moment to think about it.

"How long has it been in there?" he turned and spoke quickly to Xander. "Would it have been from the last assault, three days ago? Can you tell?"

"Hard to say," Xander answered, holding up the narrow board of seared circuits as proof. He had been tinkering with it from the moment they'd walked in, seated at his worktable. "Casing was burning away from engine radiation, but it couldn't have been in there longer'n a week and a half. It would have burnt through the cases and fused to the engine plates if it had. We got to it in time to just tug it out."

"Right..." Removing his glasses, Giles rubbed his eyes with his other hand. "We have a few options," he said, sitting on the edge of a crate and replacing his glasses on his nose. "The first is that the beacon went unnoticed, in which case, we rushed back here for no reason. Unlikely." He looked around at each face. "The second is that the signal was too far out for anyone to get a full lock, which is more of a possibility. But the one I'm most concerned about is the chance that they might have spotted us and be sending a little party to entertain us."

"Niao se de duguei just love a juicy settlement," Faith muttered, wrapping her arms around herself with a shudder. "Bet they'd be real hungry after their trip."

"Faith, there's a chance they didn't notice."

"Yeah, B, and there's a big gorram chance they did," Faith snapped, eyes flashing. "I say one of us has to be realistic here, kay?"

"Is she always so optimistic?" Xander's eye flicked from one face to another.

"All di time," Kendra replied, ignoring Faith's glare and approaching the captain. "Captain, you know dat if we leave and dey did track us, den we have led dem right here. We can't leave dis place witout protection."

"How long would we wait, Kendra?" Buffy put in. "There's no knowing how long it would take a raiding party to get here and we can't stay in one place too long in case the Feds are around."

"So we leave dese people to die, because we have ta run and hide?" Kendra's voice was hard, though there was an underlying tremor. "After we led de Reavers here, we just leave dem ta do what dey want?"

"That's not what she meant and you gorram know it!" Faith exclaimed. "You wanna see us humped by the feds cos we wanted to play heroes? Wanna risk getting taken back _there_ because there _might_ be a raiding party hereabouts?"

"You are di one sayin' dat dey probably will send a party," Kendra countered coolly.

"Look, we can't fight about this," Buffy interrupted, raising her hands. "It won't help anyone, unless we can find out what's going on."

"Yeah," Faith muttered. "Like the Reavers'll put out a message on the cortex for us sayin' they're headin' towards Nephthys for a snack." She glared at the blonde. "B, you know we ain't gonna know they're here until they start rainin' down on us."

"You want to stay then?"

"Hell no!"

"We have to help dese people!" Kendra's eyes flashed angrily.

Faith's hand contracted around her upper arms, her expression tight. "We don't even know they'll need help, K," she said tightly. "Way more settlements got et all over the verse because we didn't know where the hell those bastards were gonna be."

Turning the transmitter over in his hands, Xander's eyes flicked between it and the women who were arguing increasingly heatedly. Picking up a narrow wire-divider, he started carefully moving the twists of metal.

On the crate, Giles was rubbing his chin and staring at a point on the ceiling, clearly familiar with the ongoing argument, lost in his own thoughts. Occasionally, he looked back at them, adding a reprimanding "now, ladies", but for the most part, he seemed to be working through their options.

With Buffy placing herself between Kendra and Faith, the blonde's temper seemed to be fraying more with every push that Faith shoved at her back, the dark-haired Slayer's voice rising.

"You stay then. I'm sure they'll all be real grateful when nothin' shows up and you're hangin' around."

"At least I care what happens to dem."

Faith looked like she was on the verge of spitting bullets, her face scarlet with fury. "You think I don't care?" she snarled, lashing out over Buffy's shoulder. "Ni ta ma de! You got no idea, you crazy whore!"

Kendra's brow arched, her upper lip curling. "Den why do you want to run and hide from di alliance instead of carin'?"

The youngest Slayer's savage lunge was intercepted by the blonde. Buffy caught her wrist and twisted, bringing Faith down onto one knee, holding her there. "Faith, don't make me break your arm," she whispered, her voice tightly controlled. "You know we can't fight this out."

"B!"

"Faith," Shifting her grip, the blonde restrained Faith's other arm with one hand. "I know she made you mad, but remember what happened last time we had this kind of fight. We should be fighting _them_, not each other."

Sagging in the blonde's arm-lock, Faith stared bitterly at the ground. "Still don't tell us what we're gonna do," she mumbled. "K's wantin' to stay and be noble, but we stay, we get caught and then, the rest of the verse we'd'a fought for is humped."

"Not necessarily," Xander interrupted casually, bent over his work table, flashes of light sparking from the transmitter he was tweaking at. "If I rewire and kick-start this thing, you can ditch it out in the middle of space, somewhere. It'd give them a new target, if they are coming, and get rid of it, if they aren't."

The three girls stared at him in silence, making him look around.

"And you didn't think to say this before?"

The one-eyed mechanic grinned roguishly at them. "And miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see three hotties wrestling in my store? I might be half-blind, but I'm not dumb." When it looked like those hotties might turn some of their unspent frustration on him, he held up a hand quickly. "_And_ it distracted Buffy from grabbing it and stomping on it again when it started flashing."

Giles was staring at Xander in disbelief and horror. "You let three angry women fight... as a diversion?"

"And as a nice sideshow," Xander added amiably.

"Can I show him what I tink of his sideshow?" Kendra took a step forward, one fist raised. The amused sparkle in her eye belied the gesture, though Xander did have the strength of mind to edge around the table.

Ignoring the trio of Slayers, Giles was watching the younger man tinkering with the device. "You're certain you could manage to achieve this?" he said, his tone deadly serious.

Xander shrugged. "I would have done it if Buffy hadn't grabbed it and stomped on it the minute I pulled it out the ship," he said. "Like I said, the signal's weak, but I can tug some wires and boost it to make sure the right people get sent the wrong way." The grin flashed across his face again. "But I guess I really would be getting paid this time, right?"

"You do this right and I think I'll kiss you," Buffy said warmly.

Xander regarded her as if deep in thought for a moment. "Well," he said, rubbing his chin and smearing fresh oil across his stubble, "It don't pay for food and rent, but I guess I can work with that."

Faith snorted, massaging her neck. "Thinkin' with your zhandou de yi kuai rou, huh?"

"And proud of it," the mechanic laughed. "So, ladies... and captain. Can you do your refuelling, while I play with this? Everything else is prepped and ready to go when you are, all hauled over and picked clean."

"You mean I have to get gross and dirty again?"

Giles steered Buffy towards the ship. "I'm sure we'll manage," he said.

Before too long, the ship was fuelled and stocked, the mechanic still working rapidly on repeating the signal code that had been programmed into the transmitter.

The pilot and his girlfriend had arrived back shortly after the Slayers, apparently unsurprised by the urgency of the imminent departure.

Still, twenty minutes in the settlement had been enough for Willow to snag several new components for her machine, which she had lovingly stowed on the ship, before returning to wait with the rest of the crew.

Over the sound system that was connected to his comm. device, irritatingly chipper music was playing, which Xander was tapping his toes to, apparently oblivious to the half-dozen set of eyes fixed on him expectantly.

"So... uh... is that thing gonna blow up if he does it wrong?"

"Actually," Giles replied in a low voice. "I didn't think to ask."

The red-haired hacker nodded. "Right. So if we go boom, can we blame you and not the nifty mechanic-guy?"

"Much as I appreciate your faith in me," Xander looked up. "It won't blow up."

"Oh, good." Giles's shoulders sagged in quiet relief.

"Just disabled it. If anything woulda set it off, Buffy stamping would have done it."

Five sets of eyes rotated from the mechanic to the blonde Slayer, who raised her hands defensively, "Okay! Okay, I get it! I don't stomp on things now! It's not like it _did_ blow up!"

Attaching a final wire, Xander placed his tools aside. "I think I'm done."

"You think?" Faith echoed sceptically.

"From time to time," Xander grinned at her. "Don't look so surprised. After all, you trust me to keep that rust-bucket in the air for you."

"Only because we haven't got anyone else to go to who lets us pay in kisses instead of credit," Buffy replied impishly, sauntering to him and leaning forward, pressing a warm kiss to his lips.

The screwdriver fell from his fingers with a clatter. The blonde drew back, grinning. A wistful look was directed at her from one puppy-dog eye. "One day, Buffy, you and me..."

"You can live in hope," she replied, ruffling his hair fondly. "After all, you are our favourite mechanic."

"Only mechanic," Kendra corrected, approaching the worktable and bending to peer down at the transmitter, which was emitting faint beeps, a soft glow rising from the middle of the circuitry.

"And while this chit-chat is all very well," Giles straightened up from the crate he was on, making a gesture of dismissal with one hand, "Since we need to lose this little object as soon as possible..."

With grumbles and protests, the crew scattered up into the ship, leaving the captain and the mechanic alone in the dock, Xander tightening some wires into place with a wire driver.

"Xander, I can't help noticing you have shrunk somewhat since our last visit."

"Do I pass comment on your size-issues?"

"Xander," Giles repeated softly.

The mechanic shrugged, picking up a smaller tool. "Works short out here, Giles," he replied, not looking up. "We take what we can and when we don't have the choice, we wait until we do."

"And you've been waiting quite some time, I imagine."

The brown eye rose. "If this is where you tell me you'll pay double, forget it." he said flatly. "I get paid for the work I do, no more."

"No," Giles said, leaning his palms on the table. "This is the part where I offer you a permanent job on my crew."

There was a perfect moment of stillness, then Xander's eye lifted to him, confusion rife on his face. Laying down the wire-cutter and the transmitter, he cocked his head. "What?"

"Like the girls said, you _are_ the only mechanic in the 'verse that we can count on, knowing what you know about our operation," the captain replied quietly. "And it's a damned big universe. With the work we do and the places we go, we do run into a lot of trouble, moreso of late. We _need_ a mechanic, in case there are any more incidents like this one." Xander continued to stare at him in disbelief for several minutes. "I know it is abrupt..."

"Hold on," Xander raised a hand, a grin creeping onto his face. "You're telling me that I'd get paid to get off Nephthys, work on a ship I helped pull together from the scrap pile and hang out with four of the hottest girls I know?"

"Payment would be... less than you could expect here, but you would be welcome to shares of salvage and food. And, of course, a bed."

"And the hot girls, right?"

Giles' shook his head, chuckling. "I'm beginning to see why you might not have enough credit to keep yourself well-fed."

Xander's grin was sheepish. "I've got a bit of a problem with appreciating the sights, yeah," he agreed. "Plus, I owe the boss here about three months back-rent on this heap. He's probably waiting until you ship out so he can come and grab what I got paid."

"Which, I take it, means you'll be joining us imminently?"

"Sure!" Rising from the table, Xander grinned. "I live out my sack anyway." He hesitated, frowned. "But don't you only have five bunks onboard?"

"That matter has been discussed already, on the way here," Giles replied. "Faith will be sharing Buffy's bunk. It's one of the ones with a double in it and will suffice until you can clear out the remaining unit above the hatch and create another."

"So I clear that, I get a nice big bunk and the company of the four hotties?" Giles nodded, smiling a little too innocently for the younger man's liking." Isn't that the storage locker for..."

"The girls' weapons, yes, I'm afraid so."

Xander went pale. "I'm gonna die."

"Don't be ridiculous," Giles replied, scooping up the transmitter. "A mild maiming will be quite sufficient." He glanced at Xander again. "So, will you be joining us?"

Dragging all his tools off the table, into a box, Xander reached under the scruffy-looking bed in the corner and hauled a hefty sack full of overalls up with his other hand. "You promise you won't let 'em beat me to a bloody pulp?"

"On my mother's grave," Giles indicated broadly towards the hatch of the ship.

Xander was already halfway through, when he turned suspiciously. "Giles, is your mom actually... y'know... _dead_? "

A hand in the small of his back pushed him firmly the rest of the way into the hold, the captain stepping in after him, far more lightly and swiftly than a man his age had any right to.

"I fear you thought about that too late," the captain drawled with a smirk, striding towards the staircase up towards the bunks and cockpit.

As the hatch hissed closed behind him, Xander groaned. "Always forget the small print," he mumbled to himself morosely, swinging his sack onto his shoulder and heading towards the stairs after the captain. "I hate smart people."


End file.
